Margarita Casaine says she feels safer now at her new job. Nothing, however, can make her forget the anxious days she spent working for a laundry in dangerous conditions similar to those that killed two Hispanic immigrants in New Jersey this past December 1st.

Two months after the tragic death of the two workers, as they cleaned out a tank at an industrial laundry in Linden, New Jersey, we interviewed Margarita, who experienced similar painful conditions at another laundry, in the Bronx.

Margarita, who immigrated to the United States 17 years ago from her native Dominican Republic, says that she was literally “suffocating” at her job at a Bronx laundry, where she had worked since 1995, and where she also witnessed many “unjust situations.” Casaine was impressed by what she heard at the congressional hearing held in the city of Linden, New Jersey, to analyze the deaths of Víctor and Carlos Díaz – not related, though they had the same last name – who died by asphyxiation while at the job.

“I myself lived through the awful conditions of a laundry,” she tells us. “My experience was not as terrible as what happened to Víctor and Carlos, but it was plenty dangerous,” adds the Dominican woman. Casaine now works “very comfortably” for Roles Laundry of Manhattan and is a volunteer with the union UNITE HERE! where she is a member.

“I've seen a lot of people get burned by the ironing machines. One person got her hand was caught inside the machine and got a really ugly burn. That was before we had a union at the Golden Ballet, the laundry where I used to work in the Bronx,” she tells us.

“And the answer she got from the boss was, 'Go home, get well, and when you come back your job will be waiting.' That was the only compensation,” adds the worker. “As for the deaths of Víctor and Carlos, there was a lot of negligence there,” comments Margarita, who believes that “if they'd had the union, maybe they wouldn't have died.”

Margarita says that in her old job, the washing and dry cleaning areas were right next to each other, and that affected the workers.

“There was no barrier between those of us who did the ironing and packing – we were in front – and the dry cleaning machine, the washing machine and the dryer, which were right behind us,” Margarita explained.

“When all those chemicals got mixed up, you couldn't breathe,” she adds. “I used to get a lot of headaches – three days in the hospital and three days at home – all the time sick with that headache,” recalls Margarita.

“When we decided to unionize, everything changed,” adds the Dominican woman. “At first we were all afraid, but the seeds of fury were already growing in me on account of so many injustices, and I decided to talk to the union representatives who had come to talk to us,” she says.

It was Casaine who gathered the workers' addresses, and the union went from house to house to get them to sign the cards. “Only four out of the 67 of us there did not sign. When the boss told us, 'Nobody wants a union here,' and decided to put it to a vote, he lost, because we were already all signed up,” she remembers, laughing.

“Everything changed. The union told Mr. Barry (the owner) to isolate the dry cleaning chemicals area; we started breathing better, and my headaches disappeared without the need for any medications,” adds the woman. “That was the difference. Now I work as a volunteer for my union.”

Margarita confesses that she “knew Víctor and Carlos, because at that time it was my mission to get the union into their workplace. Those guys didn't even have boots, they didn't have masks, they didn't have gloves,” she says, referring to the two men who died. “The corpses were corroded by the acid they had breathed in. Their bodies were partially destroyed when they took them out. It was very sad,” comments the 55-year-old woman, who says her hair turned completely white “on account of the chemicals I breathed.”

Casaine vows she will keep on fighting to make sure there are no further deaths. “We've always been on the outside, in the opposition, in favor of the dispossessed,” says Margarita slowly. “We who have nothing, we have to fight for the dispossessed. Don't you think?” she asks.